Professional Indemnity Insurance
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Whether you purchase professional indemnity insurance for peace of mind, as part of your internal risk management measures, to meet a statutory and/or professional association requirement or to comply with a contractual obligation, we can assist.
Focus Insurance Brokers has access to over 15 insurance markets in Australia and overseas that offer professional indemnity insurance. We only use markets that are regulated by APRA (Australian Prudential Regulatroy Authority) and have a client scentric claims management attitude.
We will only negotiate cover and price with insurers that understand your specific profession and have the capacity to tailor their policy to meet your specific risk profile and appetitie.
Whilst it varies significantly from one profession to another, most professionals and/or professional organisations will be exposed to a claim or potential claim matter every eight to fifteen years.This may arise from advice/services that you have provided or your employees and/or sub-contractors, consultants or agents have provided. One claim has the potential to destroy you and/or your business financially and/or your business reputation and brand. It is for this reason we take our responsibilities as your insurance broker very seriously and do everything possible to ensure that your policy will respond when you need it most – to defend your professional reputation and the advice/service you provided.
Our Director, David Federici has over 20 years experience in this field and has intimate knowledge of the professional indemnity market and the underwriting drivers that will impact on price and cover.
What is Professional Indemnity Insurance?
Professional Indemnity Insurance is purchased by a professional person or professional organisation to protect them against claims or allegation of professional negligence.
A professional person is someone who has acquired a specialised skill and undertakes for a fee to perform certain tasks or provide specific advice to a third party. Examples of professional people include health practitioners, solicitors, accountants, engineers, architects, financial planners, IT consultants, management consultantss, real estate agents, etc.
In Australia, professional people or professional organisations owe a high level “duty of care” to third parties that rely upon their service and expertise. A duty of care is a legal obligation imposed on a professional requiring that they adhere to a standard of reasonable care when providing advice or a service that could foreseeably harm others financially, physically or mentally.
Focus Insurance Brokers understand the legal obligations of professional people and is committed to arranging on your behalf a good professional indemnity insurance policy. A good policy is one that will help you manage claims, pay damages and legal fees and at a market competive premium.
A Professional indemnity policy may also cover claims for:
- Defamation
- Breach of the Competition and Consumer Act
- Intellectual Property breaches
- Privacy Act Breaches
- Employee Theft
- Loss of Documents including electronic data (and the cost or restoring data)
- Contractual Liability
- Statutory Liability
- Employment Practices Liability
- Legal Costs to attend an Inquiry
- Public Relation Expenses
Understanding your Professional Indemnity Insurance policy is important and will help you avoid common pitfalls. Here are some things to consider:
- Partner with an insurer that is financially sound, conservative and has a good claims handling reputation
- Ensure your policy covers your current business structure and prior business entities
- Ensure your policy covers all your professional services and advice, current and past, and has the flexibility to cover future proposed activities
- Understand your duty of disclosure requirements prior to entering into your insurance contract and during your insurance contract
- Always notify claims or potential claim matters immediately and do not incur legal fees without your insurers prior content
- Understand all policy terms and conditions. There are many professional indemnity policies available in the market and they can vary significantly
- Take the time to read and understand all policy exclusions. Policy exclusions are often buried in your policy document and vary significantly from one policy to the next
- If possible, arrange a policy that will pay defence costs in addition to the Indemnity Limit
- If possible, arrange a policy where you do not have to pay a portion of the legal costs when you successfully defend a claim
- Arrange a policy with unlimited retroactive cover. Claims can be made against you many years after you provide the service/advice. When to sell your business or retire, will your insurer offer run-off cover and at what cost.
- Does your policy cover you for your vicarious liability to the errors / negligence of your sub-contractors, consultants or agents
Please note that the above list is not exhaustive and other factors should also be considered depending on insurer and profession.